NYT: the vanishing islands that failed to vanish
Dear friends,
If, like me a year ago, you barely understand what coral is, you think sand is just teeny-tiny rocks, and you imagine islands as inert lumps in the ocean, then I envy you. You’ve got a lot of wondrous learning in store.
It’s what I went through to report this story about atolls, the low-slung tropical islands that have long seemed doomed to vanish as the planet warms and the oceans rise. Of late, scientists have begun to tell a surprising new story about atolls. I started talking to some of these scientists, and it turned out some of them were going to the Maldives to try to penetrate the islands’ mysteries even further. I was on a plane not long after.
My story is on today’s front page. I hope you’ll take a look.
Ray